


What Could Have Been

by OashisuHana



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: Constructive Criticism Welcome, Forgive Me, Gay Robots, M/M, My First AO3 Post
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-08-04 12:34:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16346828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OashisuHana/pseuds/OashisuHana
Summary: So basically I've been crying about Dinobot's death ever since I was 9 years old. I mourn him every day. I quoted him in my high school year book. I cried about him in therapy last week. This is for everybody who loved Dinobot and fantasized about him living. And being gay with Rattrap.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Code of Hero](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/425264) by Ian Weir. 



> This scene takes place at the end of the episode "Code of Hero" and is a prologue to this work. I credited the original script incase anybody wanted to refresh what went down and because the chain of events is almost the same, and direct quotes are taken from the episode. Criticism is greatly appreciated, just keep it civil :) this is the first work I'm putting out into the world. I hope you guys enjoy!

Fire is spreading rapidly amongst the plant life and the once beautiful jungle is in ruins. The fight between the predacon tyrant Megatron and the honor-bound warrior Dinobot seems to be reaching a grim end. The warrior is thrown to the ground, with nothing but a large branch in his hand and a pointed stone to his left, this fight is sure to be his demise.

 

“FINAL WARNING - POWER FAILING - JEOPARDY EXTREME - REPEAT: EXTREME”

 

Dinobot ignored this warning and fought through the pain. The energon surges ripple through his body. This battle will soon be over, along with our hero.

 

“Oh please..” Megatron says swaggers over to the fallen warrior. “Face it Dinobot, you’re old technology, obsolete. What can you possibly do?” The predacon leader charges his weapon at Dinobot, preparing to end this once and for all.

 

Gathering the last of his strength, Dinobot gets up on one knee. As he raises the branch over his head he mutters

 

“Improvise…”

 

With a swift motion, he impales the end of the branch on the pointed stone. He lunged forward and attacked the tyrant. Megatron flies backwards and his chest compartment opens. The Golden Disk soars through the air spinning rapidly.

 

Miraculously, Dinobot catches the disk. He slowly lifts it above him and he manages to fire one final blast, destroying The Golden Disk. As the pieces scatter across the ground Dinobot calls out a final war cry as his eyes dim and he topples to the ground.

 

The maximals close in on the scene. They transform into Robot mode and open fire on the preds.

 

"So close..." Megatron says as he slowly rises to his feet. The beaten predacon leader is sparking everywhere. "I WAS SO CLOSE!" As the Maximals arrive, Megatron transforms back into beast mode. He takes to the air for his retreat.

 

As the battlefield finally dies down, Optimus, Rhinox, Cheetor, Silverbolt and Rattrap gather around Dinobot.

 

“There’s gotta be somethin’ we can do!” Cheetor says with tears in his eyes.

 

“He’s too far gone even fo-” Optimus starts to say before he’s interrupted. 

 

"There just might be a way to save him, but we have to act fast." Rhinox kneels next to Dinobot. "Can you transform back into beast mode?"

 

Dinobot struggles to make works come out of his mouth. "He's been exposed for too long, we have to rush him back to base like this" Rhinox and Thunderbolt start to lift him.

 

Rattrap stands in silence, watching these events play out before his eyes. It was not long ago that he had encountered Dinobot in one of the corridors back at base. The words they exchanged came back into the rodent's mind.

 

"Y’know, I useta figure I had you pegged. 'He’s a slag-spoutin’ saurian, but at least ya know

where he stands.' Guess we live an’ learn, huh?"

 

As the rest of the Maximals  race against death, Rattrap's mind floods with guilt. "If he dies, thas' the last thing I said to 'em. The reason he's in this condition... It's all because o'-"

 

"Rattrap, we have to go, now." Optimus puts his hand on Rattrap's shoulder. "This isn't your fault."

 

TBC


	2. Time Goes By So Slowly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaa
> 
> I'm so sorry it took so long to upload the next chapter. I've been struggling with motivation and I've been very busy with work. It took a lot out of me just to write this chapter, but as always I love to hear feedback. I really want to improve my writing :) Thanks for reading!

They say time heals all wounds, but things were looking very grim on the Axalon. Dinobot was in limbo. Not dead, not alive. His vitals were all stable, although he had suffered serious trauma from his heroic act. Nobody knew how long it would take Dinobot to become responsive again, or if he ever would.

They say time heals all wounds, but time refused to march on. Instead it was barely crawling. That fateful night kept replaying in Rattrap’s mind. It haunted him in his sleep. He found himself often walking aimlessly, waiting for his next shift.

“Rattrap”

Somebody was calling for him , but they went unnoticed.

“Rattrap…?”

All that was racing through his head was Dinobot. How he had doubted him. How Dinobot, the bot he labeled as a no good pred, did the most maximal deed and put his life on the line for the sake of others.

“Rattrap!”

He was in near tears again when a hand on his shoulder snapped him out of those repeating thoughts. Rattrap quickly blinked and shook his head.

“ I didn hear ya coming…” he replied and turned to meet eyes with Cheetor “Whats up kid?”  
“Boss bot is having a meeting, it’s important you come.”

Rattraps mind started racing again. "A meeting? What could it be about? If there's predicon activity who'd stay and monitor Dinobot's recovery? What if it's not about that, what if it's about Dinobo-"

Before Rattrap's mind could think any worse Cheetor spoke up again  
"Rattrap, are you okay? You haven't been yourself lately... and I know things are lookin bad. I'm worried too, but this isn't like you. Do you want to talk about anything?"  
There was a brief pause before Rattrap responded.   
"I'm fine."

"But you-"'  
Rattrap turned and started walking down the hall "I said I'm fine Cheetor..." There was a big lump forming in his throat and he couldn't bare to talk about his guilt just yet "I'll be there, just give me a minute kid... thanks fer gettin me."

 

\---

 

The rest of the maximals were sitting around the meeting table when Cheetor walked in.  
"Where is he?" Optimus asked

"I found Rattrap in the halls near his room, he said he would be coming..."  
"But?"  
"Boss bot, I don't know what's going on with him. He's been acting so weird after the incident."

Rhinox sighed. The past few days had been a difficult ordeal for everyone, but Cheetor was right about Rattrap being exponentially more impacted. 

"With how much those two fought, Rattrap took a big hit from what happened. He might feel guilty about how he used see Dinobot. We're all affected by what happened to him in one way or another. But those two had a..." Rhinox paused to delicately select his words before speaking. Their relationship was odd. Dinobot and Rattrap always threw insults at each other, but there was something much deeper than that. He wondered if he was the only one who saw it. "Those two had an interesting dynamic. This whole mess has probably left Rattrap in a very weird predicament to say the least."

Everybody nodded slowly while looking in various parts of the room. Talking about their close friend and dealing with the imminent fate of another was hard to discuss. Cheetor kept his eyes on his feet. Rhinox drummed his hands on the table. Silver Bolt looked aimlessly at the wall. After an uncomfortable silence everybody's attention was caught by footsteps coming from the hallway. Everybody looked at the door as Rattrap came in. There was an excruciating silence as he walked towards the table and sat down. 

“It’s good that you came Rattrap.” Optimus Primal said, breaking the silence. “I think I have some news that will be a relief to everyone.”


End file.
